Slavery Quotes in Cloud Atlas

The Archivist wants to play with semantics, saying that slavery doesn't exist. Just because a word is banned from use, that doesn't mean the concept is eliminated. If everyone stopped saying the word "orange," it doesn't mean we wouldn't be able to eat delicious citrus fruit with our breakfast. You can play with language and meaning, but you can only take it so far.

The purebloods' fear of fabricants gaining knowledge echoes the fears of slave owners in the United States during the 19th century. White masters did not want their slaves to learn to read or write. With knowledge comes power, and masters certainly didn't want their slaves to figure out how they could change their situation.

Even when Sonmi is "freed" from indentured servitude at Papa Song's, her "job" is still to make money for people above her. Yeesh. Here's something that doesn't need sarcastic air quotes: that stinks.